Lewinsky Writes of Regret in ‘Consensual’ Clinton Affair

Bill Clinton, who was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives in 1998 on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice related to the scandal, had at first publicly denied any sexual relationship with one-time White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Source: Hulton Archive via Getty Images

May 6 (Bloomberg) -- Monica Lewinsky, the one-time White
House intern involved in a sexual relationship with President
Bill Clinton, writes of her “regret” about that affair in an
article that Vanity Fair magazine is promoting online.

“I, myself, deeply regret what happened between me and
President Clinton,” Lewinsky writes, according to excerpts
released today by the magazine. “Let me say it again: I.
Myself. Deeply. Regret. What. Happened.”

Clinton, who was impeached by the U.S. House of
Representatives in 1998 on charges of perjury and obstruction of
justice related to the scandal, had at first publicly denied any
sexual relationship with Lewinsky. He later acknowledged it, and
served the remainder of his second term through January 2001
after the Senate refused to remove him from office.

Lewinsky, writing in an article that Vanity Fair plans to
post online in full on May 8 and place on newsstands May 13,
explains that she is trying to put her past behind her.

“Sure, my boss took advantage of me, but I will always
remain firm on this point: it was a consensual relationship,”
she writes. “Any ‘abuse’ came in the aftermath, when I was made
a scapegoat in order to protect his powerful position.”

When Clinton acknowledged the affair, he said in August
1998 after four hours of testimony before a federal grand jury:

“I did have a relationship with Miss Lewinsky that was not
appropriate. In fact, it was wrong. It constituted a critical
lapse in judgment and a personal failure on my part for which I
am solely and completely responsible.”

Hillary Clinton

Clinton’s wife, Hillary Clinton, who went on to serve as a
senator from New York and secretary of state for President
Barack Obama, has written of first learning of the president’s
affair with the intern in her 2003 memoir, “Living History.”

She is considering running for president in 2016.

Lewinsky, in the Vanity Fair article, writes of attempting
to dispel public misperceptions.

“The buzz in some circles has been that the Clintons must
have paid me off; why else would I have refrained from speaking
out?” Lewinsky, now 40, writes. “I can assure you that nothing
could be further from the truth.”

Lewinsky, who has gotten a master’s degree in social
psychology from the London School of Economics, writes that she
has had a lot of trouble in job interviews “because of what
potential employers so tactfully referred to as my ‘history.’”

“Thanks to the Drudge Report, I was also possibly the
first person whose global humiliation was driven by the
Internet,” she writes, explaining her current goal: “To get
involved with efforts on behalf of victims of online humiliation
and harassment and to start speaking on this topic in public
forums.”

Lewinsky, who kept a blue dress stained during her affair
with Clinton that became key evidence of their relationship,
writes that disposing of it is part of moving on with life.

“It’s time to burn the beret and bury the blue dress,”
she says in the article.